The French have a slur (“les roux ça puent”) that at its most basic says “redheads stink.” Some translations go so far as to say it means they stink like stinky vaginas. That’s a bit extreme (and strange), but whether due to Judas Iscariot, witches, or just a simple fear...

It was just a couple days ago when we were complaining about the curious lack of Vincent Cassel in our current movies and then rejoicing as he stepped in for a dropping out Oscar Isaac as the lead of a cult drama called Partisan. Now there’s reason for even more...

In less qualified hands, Trance wouldn’t be this entertaining. The script for Danny Boyle‘s newest quasi-thriller asks a lot from its audience. Suspending disbelief is one thing, but demolishing logic is another matter. In the end, the illogical dramatic ambitions hold back Boyle’s film from becoming another major addition to his body of work. Before logic...

Danny Boyle is back in March with Trance, a movie that sees James McAvoy forgetting where he put a stolen painting, the Vincent Cassel– led gangsters that want it and Rosario Dawson attempting to use hypnotherapy to bring that memory back. The first trailer is the best kind of bait and...

Today is a sad day for fans of manly movies about manly things, as it turns out two very different but very promising-sounding gritty crime movies have been put on the shelf. First up is Fox’s reboot of Marvel’s Daredevil character. Remember how Fox only has until October 10 to...

A while back David Cronenberg dropped the bombshell news that there were plans for an Eastern Promises sequel, Stephen Knight was already writing a script, and there was even some interest from Focus Features in getting it made. Instantly, fans of slicked back hair, tattoos, and vodka shot grimaces rejoiced...

Christophe Gans, who first turned heads in the U.S. by making Brotherhood of the Wolf and last gave us Silent Hill back in 2006, finally has another project on the horizon – and it’s a doozy. The French director, perhaps best known for his moody yet kinetic visual style, will...

Star of film The Artist and all-around charming guy Jean Dujardin is probably going to be getting a lot more attention now that he’s won a Golden Globe for his work on Michel Hazanavicius’ well-liked silent film throwback. As a matter of fact, The Hollywood Reporter already has word of...

Do not expect a body horror show from A Dangerous Method. Do not expect someone grotesque mental or physical transformation. Do not expect kinky or unbelievably outlandish sex scenes. Most of all, do not pigeonhole director David Cronenberg. Whatever a “David Cronenberg film” means is a mystery now. Who would’ve thought the director behind Videodrome...

Ever since its debut at Venice, some have discredited A Dangerous Method as not being cinematic. The film is 99 minutes of nonstop conversations — and not at a brisk pace — regarding psychoanalysts and the collision of different ideas. Those conversations are acted out by Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender,...

As many fellow conflicted yet faithful Netflix subscribers know, last week marked the beginning of the separation of Instant and disc-only memberships. I had been trying to whittle down my streaming queue for a few months, but we all know that is a nearly impossible task with that devilish recommendation...

Danny Boyle’s upcoming art heist movie Trance has had a bit of a problem casting its leads. Every time they seem to go after an actor, he gets too busy to commit to the film. I guess that’s the breaks when you’re going after the best people in the business....

Adrift is the new drama from Three Marias writer/director Heitor Dhalia, starring Vincent Cassel, Laura Neiva and Camilla Belle. Neiva plays a teenage girl who begins a quest of sexual discovery after learning about her father’s cheating ways. Vincent Cassel looks like he’s aiming those cheating ways right at Camilla...

Do you like gangster flicks? How about French gangster movies? How about French crime films featuring their lead actor in the nude? (Put your hand down Abaius.) Well if you answered “yes!” to any of those three questions then you’re in luck. Jean-Francois Richet’s Mesrine is a two-part gangster saga...

Black Swan is a lot about filmmaking. Nearly all of Darren Aronofsky‘s films have explored the idea of striving for greatness or perfection, and most of the time it only leads to terrible results. His latest film on the competitive dance world is no different, but here it’s more so about striving...

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr thumbs his nose at the major studio releases like The Warrior’s Way and The Nutcracker in 3D. Not only do they look like direct-to-DVD releases at best and stinkers of the year at worst, the studios didn’t let him see any of them. So...

The landscape of cinema is full of monsters – those human, and otherwise. Many of these monsters, as we’ve seen over the years, begin as something like us and are changed somehow, transforming into a creature that is equally interesting and terrifying. This is the crux of great monster stories...

Sometime in the next few days, I will be dropping upon you my review of Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. Here’s a preview: “this is the movie you should see in theaters this fall.” It has something to do with the intensity that Aronofsky and his skilled cast bring to the...

The movie that you didn’t know about hitting theaters this weekend is the follow up to Mesrine: Killer Instinct which sees Vincent Cassel continue his role as the notorious French gangster who just happens to look like the anchor for a regional nightly news program in the 1970s. Even without...